Monday, 03 June 2019

The CEO of German car manufacturer Porsche has confirmed that his office was among the premises raided by prosecutors in Stuttgart as part of an investigation into bribery allegations, according to Handelsblatt.

The raid, carried out on 28 May, concerned two separate investigations into allegations that a tax office official was bribed to share information with Porsche’s tax consultant and allegations that the chairman of the works council at Porsche was given a disproportionate salary.

CEO Oliver Blume reportedly told Handelsblatt that he was unaware of the breach of trust allegations but said that he sees it as his duty to “set a good example” in governance and compliance issues.

BP to pay billions to businessman at the centre of “suspicious” Senegal gas deal

British oil company BP allegedly knew about “suspicious” payments Frank Timiș, an Australian-Romanian businessman, made to the president of Senegal’s brother before it bought the rights to two oil and gas fields from him, according to BBC Panorama and Africa Eye.

In the report, BBC Panorama claims BP knew that Timiș, after acquiring the concessions in 2012, hired the president’s brother, Aliou Sall, for a $25,000 monthly salary to maintain his rights to the fields. BP bought the rights to the fields from Timiș in 2017. As part of the deal, BP agreed to pay Timiș up to $12 billion.

BP told BBC Panorama that it “rejects any implication that it acted improperly”.

US court refuses to hear former SocGen trader’s motion to dismiss

The US District Court for the Eastern District of New York has thrown out an attempt by former Société Générale trader Muriel Bescond to dismiss charges against her.

The court ruled on 29 May that Bescond, who was charged in August 2017 with manipulating the Libor benchmark, is a fugitive and therefore not entitled to have her arguments considered.

“Until she submits to the Court’s jurisdiction, she is not entitled to challenge the Indictment or benefit from a court order for the government to provide discovery or additional information to support her defences,” US District Court Judge Joanna Seybert ruled.